Pit 94: Level 3

Completed on April 24, 2016 by Odess and David Brinkman. We returned a day later to complete level 3. We had a significant increase in nails and window glass which was expected with being so close to where we think the west wall of the house/kitchen was located. The big finds were another 1720-1750 pipe stem by Odess and David found a .22 caliber shell. A magnified view of the shell showed it had a head mark of "H" which means it was, most likely, a Winchester shell from 1860 to 1900. Given the depth found, it would be nearer to 1860 than 1900. So, another possible Civil War item (with the Prosser button from level 2). Just 7 feet away in pit 34, we had found the only other possible Civil War item which was a .22 caliber pistol barrel. Overall, pit 94 had below average artifact numbers (131 compared to the average of 161) but it's wide range of artifact categories boosted it's APR (Artifact Power Rating) to the 25th best pit of the dig. In total, we had 20 pieces of pottery, 58 pieces of glass, 20 nails, 1885 grams of brick (a new record), 10 Native American items, 2 pipe stems and 3 pipe bowl pieces, a possible Civil War gun shell, and a 19th century button.

Below: The .22 caliber shell from level 3. The "H" in the center identifies this as a Winchester shell from 1860 to 1900. The primative "H" probably means it was one of the first made which would date it to the Civil War.

Below: This small post hole like feature was visible from the bottom of level 2 (34cm) until about 40cm in level 3. We did not count this as a post hole because there were other Pine tree roots in the same area. We may need to re-visit this decision after more data comes in.